Pamelyn Casto
Carmina magazine accepted my poem on the ancient Aztec god, Tlaloc. The editor says she loves it and will run it in her September issue. She also asked me to write a short piece on how the poem came to be.
I collect gods and goddesses from all times and places and like to write poetry about them.
Pamelyn Casto
I'm pleased to say that two of my poems, Mary Halstead, Runaway Slave, Spring 1776 and Ann Bates, Loyalist Spy, will be published in Highland Park Poetry's US250 Persona Poem Project.
It was interesting to research these historical women's lives and to create poems about them. The anthology will be released later this year.
Pamelyn Casto
My essay, The Ice Medusa: Writing From Your Fear, was released as a pamphlet in OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters' Pamphlet Series. The essay was originally published in Web Del Sol's Perihelion (still available in their archives). It's beautiful in pamphlet form - do pick up a copy. It's free. Download it here.
Have you done battle with your Ice Medusa yet?
Pamelyn Casto
My essay, The Land of the Ice Medusa, Writing from Your Fear, is going to be republished, but this time in pamphlet form. I've never been "pamphlet-ed" before! It's gorgeous (I've seen the mock-up) and will likely be released in February.
Pamelyn Casto
A new book's just been released, titled Flash Fiction Writing Tips: Penned By Masterful Flash Writers From Around The Globe (Paperback - December 26, 2025) curated by Karen Schauber.
The book includes my tip on using defamiliarization in writing flash fiction/literature (useful for poets and prose poets, too). I'm delighted my advice is included with such outstanding writers. What's also pleasing to me is that the magazine published my tip two or three years ago.
I thought that was the end of it. It wasn't. Then I got this news about the release of this book. Some say our words can come back to haunt us. We can also say they sometimes come back to delight us.
I just completed a chapbook project with Kent Dixon titled Flash as Flash Can. It includes my interview with him, several pieces of his writing, and a craft essay. The chapbook is free and will teach you a lot about short-short work. See it here. Do take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about flash literature.
I got the go-ahead for another chapbook project with a well-known writer of haibun, Roberta Beary. I've been busy this evening putting together questions for the interview, and I'm eager to get going with it.
Pamelyn Casto
Santa came early! I was notified that my poem, Impressions, won a First Place. The prize (even if it's tacky to tell it) is $400 - that's a nice little stocking stuffer!
Pamelyn Casto
My poem, The Slugs, will be published in the January Issue of Highland Park Poetry for their Winter Muses Gallery.
Pamelyn Casto
I'm pleased to say I won a First Place in a poetry contest I like to enter every year. I came so close in other categories of the contest - I got 6 second places, 1 third place, and six other poems made it to the top ten.
Last year I won 4 first place prizes. Now I'm eager to see what next year might bring-- maybe no wins at all. You writes yer poems and you takes yer chances. LOL
My latest chapbook project in the Masters Series, Tom Hazuka's Mixture: Flash Fiction, was just released. (This is my ninth one in the series.)
For these projects, I choose a well-known writer of flash literature, interview that writer, and in turn, the writer provides me with a craft essay and six stories.
It's a great way to learn more about writing flash literature, from various talented writers, so be sure to download the latest chapbook - it's free.
Chandrika Radhakrishnan
I'm happy that my microfiction piece, The Letter, found a place in Issue 50 of Fairfield Scribes. The wins are far in between, yet give me hope that editors will sit up and notice how brilliant I am! Now, I sound like someone :)
Paul S. Fein
I'm a sportswriter. However, in the past 12 months, five of my Letters to the Editor of The Republican, the leading newspaper in Western Massachusetts, were accepted and published as Guest Columns or Viewpoint Columns.
You can read the most recent letter here. It will appear in print in The Sunday Republican.
Pamelyn Casto
I was notified that I've won at least one First Prize in a poetry contest I enter each year. I won't know which poem (or poems) won until November because that's when the awards banquet takes place.
The organization likes to give poets plenty of time to arrange to attend the annual convention, where they name all the winners and hand out the prizes. I won four first-place prizes last year. I am just delighted to get this great news.
Pamelyn Casto
My essay, A Close Reading of Franz Kafka's Up in the Gallery, was published a couple of days ago in OPEN: Journal of Arts & Letters.
If you check it out, read the story first (see the link at the top of the essay page) and then read the essay itself. That tiny story was a challenge to interpret, to say the least about it. But it was definitely worth exploring.
Pamelyn Casto
Highland Park Poetry published my poem, Message in a Bottle, to the Jakarta Beggar, and included it in their anthology Message in a Bottle: Poets Respond to Hopeful Communication.
The anthology looks great and I'm pleased to see my poem within its pages. And I'm even more pleased to eventually get to read all the poems and place the anthology on my bookshelf.
I realize that I live in a digital world, but I still prefer hard copy. I love seeing my work in a hard copy publication and enjoy placing that hard copy on my bookshelf, which holds all the other books and magazines that have published my work.
Amita Basu
My debut short story collection, At Play and Other Stories, has been published by Bridge House Press, a small traditional British publisher.
The 15 stories feature contemporary Indian women as they grapple with family and friendship, miscarriages and runaway children, love and sex, work and ambition, physical and mental illness, coming of age and aging, and the struggle to make a living.
The collection is available in Kindle and paperback from Amazon US, Amazon UK, and Amazon India.
Many of these stories were drafted or revised on the Workshop. My hearty thanks to everyone here.
David C. Russell
My story, The Chronic Complainer, has been published by Spillwords. You can read it now.
Chandrika Radhakrishnan
My drabble, Family, has been published by Flash Flood.
Pamelyn Casto
My poem, Message in a Bottle to the Jakarta Beggar, was accepted for publication at Highland Park Poetry for their Message in a Bottle 2025 Summer Muses' Gallery. What's even nicer is that my poem was previously a poetry contest first place winner and published, so this is its second time around, but with a different publication.
I love the good news and love the second-time-around poems. (Last week I also learned that my senryu will be published by Failed Haiku.)
Pamelyn Casto
My essay, A Close Look at Somerset Maugham's An Appointment in Saramara, has been published by OPEN:Journal of Arts & Letters.
Paul S. Fein
I would like to thank everyone who helped improve my Debates can help set us free column. It was published as a Guest Viewpoint in the April 8 edition of The Republican, our major newspaper. It hasn't appeared online yet.
Pamelyn Casto
My flash fiction piece, SOS, Somebody Said, will be published in the next issue of Dog Throat Journal, which should go live April 1st. Thanks to the Practice-W Group for the prompt and to the members for their comments.
Mark Budman
My new story, Frankenstein's Mirrors, has been published by Antipodean SF. My mom taught me that every man has to leave a mark on this world, something that posterity would remember him by. I listened. Her wisdom and my obedience brought me nothing but trouble.
Paul S. Fein
I'm thrilled to report that the AIPS Awards annual writing competition longlisted my entries, Are You Not Entertained! and For the Love of the Game. This is the biggest and best sports media competition in the world.
I want to thank the skillful IWW critiquers who improved these articles and made them contest-ready - most notably Irma Navarro, Bill Bartlett, Cathy Moser, Sala Wyman, Sheri McGregor, Ellen Dreyer, Chandrika Radhakrishnan, and Johnny Motley, with an apology to anyone else I may have omitted.
